Vie de Malchance

We’ll be having green fried tomatoes soon. I let a branch with a half dozen little ones get away from me and the storm broke it. I also had to stake my bell pepper plants heavy with fruit.

We had dinner with the realtor last night and I picked up the check. At $150K, we’re in the bottom of the market and it’s booming, locally. Later at home, I told the Wife that plate of chicken cacciatore could be the best money we ever spend.

I keep getting these emails from the McCain and Obama campaigns (yes, I’ve joined both) saluted “Dear Fecund.” I laugh every time. If only I could contrive a way to have them call me “Mr. Stench.” Hilarious.

The Wife called during the storm to say that the AC and half the power was off at her store. I drove over with a fan and no idea what might be going on. Walking out back, I saw that her meter had been whacked as though by a truck. Then we found the door mirror lying nearby. The garbage men came this morning, apparently during the storm.

The veterans and the racists could care less. Even so:

“Because of the surge we were able to go out and protect that sheik and others. And it began the Anbar awakening,” McCain said, referring to the U.S.-backed revolt of Sunni sheiks against al-Qaida in Anbar province. “I mean, that’s just a matter of history.”

The problem with McCain’s statement _ as Obama’s campaign quickly noted _ was that the awakening got under way before President Bush announced in January 2007 his decision to flood Iraq with tens of thousands of additional U.S. troops to help combat violence.

Bill Roggio had a good explanation of the Sunni Awakening in May 2007:

The Anbar Salvation Council, led by Sheikh Abdul Sattar Abu Rishawi, has turned the Albu Fahd tribe against al Qaeda. The Albu Fahd was one of the six original Anbari tribes to support al Qaeda and its Islamic State in Iraq. These six tribes are known in some military intelligence circles as the “Sinister Six”. The Albu Fahd [described as the Bu-Fahed] has now joined the Anbar Salvation Council and pledged to throw its weight behind the fight against al Qaeda.

The Bushes hit the links:

While Mr. Obama was shown striding across military tarmacs and inspecting troops standing at attention, Mr. McCain on Monday was seen being driven around in a golf cart by former President George Bush in the resort town of Kennebunkport, Me. Later, the two men spoke to reporters side by side at a waterfront, and they looked more like fellow members of a Past Presidents’ Club than a party elder passing the torch to his political heir.

In the grand tradition of Machiavelli, Charlie Black has McCain saying one thing and doing another:

Is he in or is he out? Bob Novak and CNBC’s Larry Kudlow say he’s in. In addition to Kudlow’s reporting, Steve Forbes told Kudlow he thinks Gramm would still be at least giving “advice” to the candidate.

Who’s your daddy?

Last night, we caught up by watching the first two episodes of HBO’s Generation Kill. The Wife actually sat through both. The language is very coarse, but the story is more about the human element than the armament, which kept her interest. It was familiar to me, not from reading Evan Wright’s book, but excerpts of it in Rolling Stone. At the end of episode two, the sit for Marine Force Recon is FUBAR and perfectly normal. They’ve been “lit up” and smoked a few “hajis.” I’ll make an effort to see the remainder.